Commentary

Environmentalism in Raffles: Living On After COVID-19
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Shaun Loh (21A01A)
Cover image by Clarice Tan (21A01C)

About a year ago, immediately after taking the Mother Tongue O Level examination, a small group of Year 4 students congregated in a classroom at Sheares Block.

“Should I call us Raffles Climate?” I asked, laughing at how banal the name was. 

“No! That’s so plain,” retorted my friend. “How about EcoGryphons? That’s more refreshing.” 

And there it was, the name of a new environmental group in Raffles. 

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Book Reviews, Commentary, Raffles Reviews

Raffles Reads: The Good Day I Died
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Tan Yu You (21S03H)

Raffles Reads is a collaboration between Raffles Press and Times Reads which aims to promote a reading culture among Singaporean students.

Rating: ★★★★★

The answer to life, the universe and everything may be 42 (a reference to Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)—but is there an answer to death?

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Book Reviews, Commentary, Raffles Reviews

Raffles Reads: Providence
Reading Time: 7 minutes

By Neo Xin Yuan (21A01D)

Raffles Reads is a collaboration between Raffles Press and Times Reads which aims to promote a reading culture among Singaporean students.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Providence is wiser than you, and you may be confident it has suited all things better to your eternal good than you could do had you been left to your own option.

So begins Max Barry’s latest sci-fi novel Providence. The above quote, taken from John Flavel’s The Mystery of Providence, is truly an apt epigraph, effectively encapsulating the overarching theme of the similarly named Providence.

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Commentary, Life After Raffles

A Researcher’s Guide: the COVID-19 Vaccine
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Arielle Yeo (21S07B) and Matthew Ethan Ramli (21S03F) 
Cover image by Neo Xin Yuan (21A01D)

In the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccine is the elixir to life as we know it. Joining Singapore’s efforts to develop it are RJC alums, Dr. Jenny Low (‘92) and Dr. Shirin Kalimuddin (‘99). As clinician-scientists at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), they are responsible for conducting the clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine. Co-developed by Duke-NUS and US-based company, Arcturus Therapeutics, the vaccine has to be tested in an adaptive phase 1/2 clinical trial to ensure both its safety and efficacy. 

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Commentary

Prelude To Our Bicentennial: The Raffles Archives and Museum
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Matthew Ethan Ramli (21S03F) and Thet Hninn Zin (21A13A)

As the institution’s bicentennial nears, we look back as a school on our past two centuries of history. For many Rafflesians, both past and present, it is the traditions that we remember most. Be it the age-old ceremonies that continue to underpin our journeys or the illustrious histories of our co-curricular activities, these legacies are what shapes our ethos. Carrying the mandate to protect such a heritage for generations before and to come, is the Raffles Archives and Museum (RAM). Together with the Office of Alumni Relations, and led by Mr. Magendiran (Advisor Special Projects & Alumni Relations), the RAM will oversee some of the upcoming bicentennial celebrations in the next two and a half years.

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